A Little More Burly And Now I'm Curly

A Little More Burly And Now I'm Curly

Dear Sugar
I just turned 35 and over the past three years I have put on roughly 20 lbs. Since my weight gain, my hair has drastically changed and is now coarse and curly. I've always had a little bit of a wave to it, but nothing like this. My hair used to grow like a weed and now it feels like forever in between my haircuts. Is there any connection between my weight gain and my hair? Hair Bent Becky

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Dear Hair Bent Becky
Has your body been through any other changes besides weight gain? I have found no direct correlation between weight gain affecting your hair chemistry. The quality and quantity of your hair is genetically determined, however there are some extenuating circumstances that could affect changes in your hair cycle.

Are you on any medication? People who have been on Chemotherapy often times find their hair grows back curly and significantly thicker. If that doesn't apply to you, have you recently turned grey? Grey hair is known to grow in coarse, but not necessarily curly.

Hair cells have growth periods and rest periods and our hair grows pretty consistently at the rate of about a half an inch a month. If you feel like your hair isn't growing as fast, your follicles might be in the rest phase. I hope I have been of some help to you. Hormones are probably to blame for this sudden change, but if you are still concerned, I suggest consulting your doctor or a hair expert.

Your change in texture is probably mostly hormonal. I use to have straight hair and when I hit puberty it went crazy wavy so I know the affects of hormones on hair and its not very fun. BUt definitely look at your diet also. You may want to consider taking a daily multi-vitamin
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My hair has become very curly too, and I attribute it to hormonal changes - which could very well be associated with weight gain/loss too, for that matter. At any rate, don't sweat it: your picture is beautiful!
xo

If your diet has changed, that can affect your hair, definitely. High-protein (well balanced) diets with healthy oils are best for hair health in addition to body health.
Other things like DearSugar mentioned can affect you, but so can other things like changing your water supply (chemicals, well vs. supply, etc.).
These changes happen gradually so you need to think back to before they started to happen.
BaltimoreGal